Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/489
with two faint, white lines either side of the midrib beneath, persistent for at least 3 years ; tip emarginate, generally with two sharp cups. Cones always erect, oblong or cylindric, 2-4in. long, l½-3in. diam., dark-purple when ripe ; scales closely imbricate, obovate ; edge round. Seeds 1/6-1/5in. long, obovoid ; wing twice as long broadly obovate, truncate ; cotyledons 5-6." (Kanjilal's Forest Flora of Sewalik, etc., p. 434, 2nd Edition, Calcutta, 1911.)
Uses :— The dried leaves of this plant (Talispatra, Hind, and Beng., Talispatra, Sans.)* are regarded as carminative, expectorant, stomachic, tonic and astringent, and useful in phthisis, asthma, bronchitis and catarrh of the bladder. The powdered leaves are often given along with the juice of Adhatoda Vasica and honey, and a confection called taliadya churn is prepared from the talispatra along with pepper, ginger, bamboo, manna,
- According to Ainslie and the earlier writers on Indian Economic Botany, talispatrie, talisapatra (Dec. and Hind.) ; and talisha, vidara (Sans.) were the vernacular names for the dried leaves and twigs of Flacourtia cataphracta, the paniyala of Bengal. (Ainslie II, 407.)
Mr. Gamble, in his Manual of Indian Timbers, p. 17, gives talispatri as the Hindi name for Flacourtia 'cataphracta, Roxb., and this is also the name given by Babu T. N. Mukharji in his Amsterdam Catalogue. I have examined many specimens of the talispatra of our native druggists' shops in Bengal, and they have uniformly been the leaves and twigs of Abies Webbiana. Dr. U. C. Dutt writes to me to say that this is also his experience, and that he is of opinion that this is the talispatra of the ancient Sanskrit writers. It seems difficult to account, however, for a man of Dr. Ainslie's ability mistaking the ovate leaf of a Flacourtia for the needle-shaped leaves of a Pine, and having few or no authors to compile from, he must have personally identified the plants of which he wrote.
It is probable that the dried leaves of several plants, according to the part of India where met with, receive the name of talispatra, provided they are found useful in the treatment of coughs. It seems likely, however, that the leaves of Abies Webbiana are the original or true talispatra. Dr. Dymock informs me that the talispatra of the Bombay shops (also called Birmi) consists of the leaves and young shoots of Taxus Baccata, Linn.
The description of the talispatra in old books of Indian medicinal plants would agree very well with the leaves of a Cinnamomum, much better, in fact, than with those of an Abies, Dr. Moodeen Shariff gives talishapatri as the Tamil and Telegu names for C. Tamal, Nees, and also the Arabic and Persian for the leaves of that plant. He may be quite right in this opinion, modern usage having appropriated the name to Abies. (Watt.)